Commenting Rules: Keep the conversation civil and on topic. If your comment does not add to the conversation, it will be removed. Debate intelligently. Insulting the author, /Film, or other commenters will result in comment removal and possible ban. If you want to point out a typo, correction, suggestion or criticism for /Film, please email us instead. Please use your name or nickname and not your business name (ie Discount Car Parts) as we might confuse and mark it as spam. If you would like to have your own Avatar show up with your comment, sign-up for a free Disqus account. Any Links will go into moderation before being approved. Anything we deem as spam will not be approved.

VOTD: Reach

Posted on Thursday, May 14th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta

Australian character animator Luke Randall’s 4-minute animated short film Reach is about a tiny robot who is given the gift of life with only one limitation, the length of his power cable. When a curious bird appears at the workshop window, his lust to live outside of his reach, may be his demise.

It was produced over a period of 8 months in the after work hours using Maya, Photoshop and After Effects. The short has already won a bunch of awards on the festival circuit, but the film is currently a finalist in the Cannes Short Film Corner competition and is looking for your vote. So watch the film after the jump, click on the HQ button to see the film in higher quality. And afterward, head on over to YouTube to cast your vote via star rating (you need to be signed in).

via: LaughingSquid

Comments

Landfill

I enjoyed the video. I will be sure to cast my vote on youtube in just a second.

shora

great animation

MrCristal

I think Sebastian's Voodo it's the best animated short film for Cannes... you really should check it out..

It's a lot better than this..

shora

are you serious??? that's so damn ugly (and pointless)
This one has great animation

croll

yeah, somebody likes chris ware. he had a story in one of his acme novelties (which design-wise this is suspiciously close) which basically was the same sentiment, but better. If anyone else is familiar with ware's stuff, could you back me up here in seeing a pretty strong resemblance?

Brendan M.

Chris ware? More like "where Chris?" Hahahaaa!!

JJRK

Fish should stay in the sea.

Brad

Not bad. Not great. Certainly better than anything I've done, but a Cannes finalist? Really?

Fir3Wolf

Four minutes of greatness right there. I dug it and really enjoyed the animation, but it was kinda sad even knowing what was going to happen.

kjell

Very Impressive, nice texture shader for the table

JennaS2

This reminds me a lot of Chibi Robo from Nintendo, a little robot that serves a very dysfunctional household doing chores but needs a recharge every so often by plugging into outlets. As for the movie...it was depressing, seemed to say you shouldn't try to reach for your dreams because you'll end up failing. Great animation though.

Just a guy

What's up with the "human" not having enough fingers?

BeyondtheTech

Most new batteries charge to 80% in the first few minutes, he could have waited a little longer before disconnecting. Impatient little robot...

odvan

:D

Andrew Ols

It's a story I've seen played out so many times in so many ways, but for some reason I keep routing for it to go a way I know it won't! The fact that it was able to give me that little bit of hope, up until he went for his final run, is what made it good. Not great, but good.

morecomp

Nice idea for a shortfilm, a good work is the animation in it.

DShelton

Wow. Well I'm impressed.

DShelton

Wow. Well I'm impressed/

xblurr

Wall-E is so much better. I mean, this movie is only 4 minutes long.

You can only eat 12 popcorn before it's over.

Kyle

Amazing

David

Nice animation. Otherwise, just okay.

thebertosaurus

That was just great. Pretty sad too.

fumuthabeotch

Awesome short. This guy's got talent.

TheMarquis

:(

ANGRYBROOMSTICK

This is such a wonderful short little film. Morale of the story: always be grateful for the good, easy life you have.

Quintushalls

needs a nuclear battery from Small Soldiers

TikiAnimator

AnimationMentor.com represent!!!!

CaptainAwesome

I don't think it's depressing. I think it's very typical. I think every animation short usually goes this route for a few reasons. I wouldn't mind seeing more creative story designs for short films like this.

I get it, a toy can get sad in a cartoon.

Eduke

is a really good short, but Yorick is right, is depressing.

LeMime

Niiice work Mr Randall! This as the feel of a Pixar movie (without the happy ending though). I could definitely see it being developed in a feature.

Yorick

Depressing...

[A]

yeah, it's a downer

isotope

That was pretty damn good for four minutes of film.

/Film

Blogging the Reel World

VOTD: Reach

Related Posts

Tags

/Film